Online gambling is any type of gambling conducted via the internet. This includes casinos, live casinos and online sports betting. The first online gambling site opened to the public, was online ticketing for the first world international lottery game, the Lotto Max International Game in October 1994. Since then, online gambling has grown exponentially. Today there are over two dozen sites offering a variety of different online gambling games.
Most of these online gambling sites use a form of payment called the payment gateway. Payment gateways act as third party vendors that allow online gamblers to transfer money from one account to another. Some of the payment gateways are operated in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom and Sweden while others are operated in countries like China, Russia, India and many other countries throughout the world. Most of these payment gateways are regulated by government bodies such as the Payment Security Exchange and The Payment Industry Regulatory Authority.
Many countries throughout the world have taken an active role in regulating their local online gambling and poker rooms. While many of these countries have not developed specific laws related to gambling and online poker, all of them still have some laws related to gambling and poker that force websites to abide by their respective laws and provide a reliable and secure payment method to their players. Many US online gambling sites are subject to state and county laws that require them to operate according to a set code of ethics and in accordance with the requirements and policies of the state. The state also often intervenes in cases where a website is operating in an unprofitable manner by requesting that it close down or offer its services for sale or license in a certain state. Therefore, if you want to enjoy the excitement and the fun of US online gambling, you should always check that the website you are playing at complies with all the legal requirements imposed by your particular state.